Chapter Fifty-one

So quickly those eyes went dark, so quickly that scowl sprung to his face as Ivar flicked his eyes to look at him, and Enid saw him then, leaning against the doorway, his arms folded across his chest, a small smile on his lips. He was handsome. She found herself staring, her stomach twisting and turning inside her though she tried to stop it as Erik stepped into the room, that smile on his lips growing bigger, the light in his eyes soft and warm.

"I hope you didn't take any, Ivar. I would rather you and I stayed friends," Erik said, and Ivar stayed there, resting on his elbows as he grunted, one hard, curt grunt and he stared at Erik.

"Enid can do what she wants," he said.

"It almost sounds like she's free," Erik said.

"She's not," Ivar snapped. "But if you force yourself on her, I'll kill you myself."

Enid's breath caught in her throat, her mind ringing and racing with everything Freya had told her. Her mouth opened to ask, her hands almost reaching to grab at Ivar's shoulder and shake him until he answered every question she felt stirring inside her, but then Erik laughed, raising his palms in the air just like he had done to Enid in the hall.

"I believe you, Deathless," he said. "Lucky for me I've never had to force myself on anyone and I don't plan on starting now," he smiled, crouching so that he could look into Enid's eyes and she felt the colour rise to her cheeks, her toes curling in her boots as her hands clutched at her dress.

His mother was a princess. His grandfather was a king and he was looking at her like that. Somehow she found that so hard to believe, somehow she couldn't look any to matter how hard she tried when he smiled, tilting his head to the side, his eyes half-closing as he watched her.

"Our god Thor has red hair," he said. "Just like yours. You can hear him when he's working. Every time he strikes his hammer the skies rumble and the sparks fly across it."

He reached for her hair then, brushing a loose curl behind her ear and when his hand came back it was holding a silver hammer. He twirled it between his fingers, catching it in the palm of his hand before he held it out to her. She slowly reached to take it, her eyes flicking to Ivar but he only stared ahead, that fierce scowl on his face, his eyes dark and cold. Erik watched her, that smile still on his lips, the palm of his hand flat out and still almost like he was hoping some wild creature would land on it.

"He's a blacksmith too," he said when she'd taken it. "That's why I'll help you find yours, but I hope you won't hate me if something has happened to him, Enid. I won't hide the truth from you so you'd better stop me now if you don't want to find out."

She stared at him a moment, her eyes big and wide, that hammer clutched in her hand. There it was, the last hope she had of returning to her old life laid out in front of her. Suddenly she was on that dock. Suddenly the children and Ivar were watching her go, their faces growing smaller and smaller as she drifted away. Could she do it? Could she really go back to Cormac and leave this all behind her?

"No," she whispered, and Erik tilted his head to the side, that smile still on his lips, his eyebrows rising.

"What?" he asked.

"I don't want to know," she said, this time her voice clear though it was still soft.

That smile turned into a grin then as he nodded and stood.

"Good," he said, "A shieldmaiden should never hold onto the past. My house is the first one to the left when you leave the hall or… I train down on the beach in the mornings if you ever want to find me."